Molecular typing of canine parvovirus variants by polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme analysis

Canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) is a pathogen of dogs, which causes acute gastroenteritis and lymphopenia mostly in young pups. This paper reports the incidence of CPV-2 infection in diarrhoeic dogs with an aim to define the involvement of various variants of canine parvovirus circulating in India. CPV-2a, a variant of CPV-2 was differentiated from CPV-2b by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The samples positive for CPV-2b were further analysed by PCR and restriction endonuclease (RE) analysis using Mbo II to detect the CPV-2c variant. Of 129 faecal samples studied, 78 were found positive for canine parvovirus by PCR. Among the 78 samples, 27 were of CPV-2a, 39 of CPV-2b and 12 of CPV-2c type, respectively. This study also showed that CPV-2c, anew variant, is circulating in India. The CPV-2c could be successfully detected by PCR and RE analysis while CPV-2b is the major antigenic type prevalent in this region followed by CPV-2a.